The Nobodies
by Midwich Cuckoo
Summary: Not all fairies from Pixie Hollow are accepted in there. A story on the darkness talent fairies.


**Author's note: the concept of this fanfic and the Nobodies – the darkness element fairies - doesn't belong to me as I got inspired by Aninika whose story "My Purpose" you can find on the site. I decided to come up with my own version of the idea that came into life in the world of her imagination. The beta was Moviemom44, as always. I don't own Disney Fairies in any way. The names of the fairies I used in the fanfic were derived by me from the pixiehollow go com site. You can create your own fairies in there – mine are Amethyst Vanillabreeze and Saffron Sundew, whom though I didn't use in my story.**

**The Nobodies**

The cavern is dark. So dark, in fact, that not even a hint of sunlight, not even an indication that there is a sun out there somewhere, ever gets into the space. The wooden walls of the cavern, polished to the point of being glossy by the backs of those huddled together in it, don't catch even a single ray of the sun shining over the heads of the inhabitants of the place stretching out in every direction above this place, this forgotten cave under the Home Tree. The cavern, safely hidden by the power of pixie magic and by the passage of time itself which had removed any knowledge of its existence from the memories of the inhabitants of Pixie Hollow, keeps its secrets well.

The emaciated bodies and thin, dreary faces of the beings sitting on the primitive wooden benches, the only furniture present in the cave, are sunk in semidarkness. After centuries of incarceration in the forgotten prison under the roots of the Home Tree, the prisoners have only one reminder that the darkness that rules this underground chamber is not omnipotent. Their eyes and frayed wings--wings too weak to ever allow them to soar into the sky, even if they were suddenly blessed with such an opportunity--still glisten delicately, proving that there is still some room for the light.

The oldest pixie, her eyes half-blind from lack of sun and fixed on the uneven floor, her body stooped over and unmoving on the bench as though she were already dead, suddenly moves, encouraging the belief that there's still life glowing in her body. She combs her lean, weak hand through tangled blond hair which is showing its first streaks of grey. She smiles, grinning like a madwoman, baring her tiny white teeth. She is the oldest--if their ages can be correctly estimated using the passage of time, which while passing immeasurably slowly for the imprisoned, does still pass. Yet, she looks the same as all the others--young, even if their skin clings tightly to their cheek bones and their bodies, clothed in rags, are almost skeleton thin.

"Is there anything wrong, Celeste?" one of the younger pixies dares to ask in a trembling voice. Their informal leader looks upset, like the gift she developed over the course of the last thousand years in this lightless chamber had suddenly activated, allowing her to reach farther with her mind than her almost-blind eyes could see. Celeste denies she has such a gift, but the other pixies often hear her mumbling something and shivering in the anxious, half-catatonic dreams that disturb the repose into which the pixie sinks more and more often to forget about where she is. It seems her dreams give her some knowledge far beyond the normal possibilities of regular pixies who, after all, are magical creatures. Other pixies sharing her fate in the underground place of seclusion to which they were all condemned by the power of the old rules from thousands of years ago, also follow her example, sleeping all day, often not waking up at all, but slowly withering away, leaving behind only the handful of silver dust that all pixie bodies become when they die. Some of the others give signs of possessing the same gift that Celeste has developed, but it doesn't seem to be as strong in any of them as it is in the leader of the prisoners.

"Nothing, sweetie," the old-young pixie answers with a visible effort, trying to smile but succeeding only in disfiguring her beautiful but already aging face. Covered with tiny wrinkles, her yellowish skin fits tightly over her finely chiseled cheekbones. The smile makes it tighten even more, making her tiny head look almost like a skull. The effort to calm her disturbed companion comes to nothing, making the younger pixie--indeed all the pixies who were looking at them now--even more uneasy.

"Leave her alone, Star," says another fairy in a dreamy voice. It's a man, long-haired and long-bearded, one of barely a few male fairies among the fifty or so inhabitants of the chamber, all of whom were squeezed in the small space, not leaving them much space to do anything but sit hunched on the benches, waiting for the next couple of centuries until they inevitably wither away; that's the end of life for Nobodies. The speaker's name is Rainbow--an ironic joke, considering the man's never even been given a chance to see the colorful ribbon underslung in the sky for which he named himself. Yes, Nobodies name themselves, since no Queen ruling over their brothers and sisters living on the outside and enjoying their lives with no knowledge of those hidden here, ever cared to name them before sending them to the cavern.

"The new darkness fairy has arrived," states a black-skinned pixie sitting in the corner with her head dropped. This simple, matter-of-fact explanation, although she can't prove its truthfulness, strikes her suddenly, quite as if someone put this knowledge into her mouth, making her say it in the presence of the others. She, like all of the captives, doesn't seem to show much interest in what's happening in the room. Known as Ebony among her companions because of her dark skin, she is one of the youngest of this gathering, but the years that have passed since she was thrown in here have already managed to leave their stamp on her. Young Ebony, though cheerful by nature, has already stopped laughing and her smile is rarely seen. Apathetic and, like Celeste, spending whole days sleeping, she shows signs that the days are drawing nearer when she will sink into the catatonia from which there is no waking, followed by her transformation into the silver dust.

"How can you know this?" asks the fairy who started this conversation. Talk is rare in the chamber of imprisoned fairies; for the centuries spent with each other they have already told everything there is to tell to one another and now there can be whole days when no one says anything. "How do you know?" repeats the fairy when her friend doesn't answer for a long time.

"Celeste senses something; I can see it. I know her. She can't hide anything from us. She does have the gift, regardless of how hard she tries to deny it," says Ebony in the same flat voice, although a note of excitement begins to brighten her tone.

A couple of fairies, frozen in the same positions for a few days like marble statuettes, lift their heads and start to stare at Ebony and Celeste. Their eyes, starting to fill with shy hope, wander from one to the other.

"If that's true, maybe this one is going to be the one who..." one pixie starts to say but doesn't finish. A silent tear trickles down her face, but the magical girl catches it and looks at it, a small sob shaking her tiny body.

"Who what?" a thin, blond-haired sparrow man who hasn't spoken yet asks hoarsely. He stands up and looks at the others, like he expects someone to give him an answer he, having heard the story many, many times during the days of his imprisonment here, knows exquisitely well. But he likes to hear it one more time--it fills him with hope, which keeps him alive--otherwise the lean, blond male fairy called Hickory would just lie down to end his life in the explosion of silverish dust that resembles the sand from the shore that none of them ever saw or ever will see. That is, if the newcomer whose arrival Ebony announced isn't the one who...

"Who will do what?" Hickory pouts like a young child, demanding to be told the same story for the thousandth time, even if he knows very well that everybody has already had enough of it. He fixes his eyes on the closest person, a short, curly pixie dressed in the shreds of what was once a white dress, voicelessly begging her for the words of comfort. This is the only way left that any comfort can be shown to any of them and the whole community of the Nobodies is aware of it.

But before the curly one can answer, Celeste takes the floor.

"We, all who are gathered here, know the history of the Nobodies, the name we darkness fairies assumed after Queen Fantasia condemned our kind to imprisonment forever, until the end of time," the leader of the fairies recites in a steady voice, like she could see with her eyes obscured by a milky white fog the charts of a book describing the history of the inhabitants of Pixie Hollow. She doesn't remember how many times she has said this whole story. If her gift for sensing what's happening beyond the walls of their prison--a gift whose development she tried to hide from the others for reasons not fully understood even by herself ("_Ebony really shouldn't have such a big mouth," Celeste thinks to herself, trying to muffle the prick of irritation at her friend_.)--hasn't failed her, she will have to repeat the tale one more time when the small locked door opens and a new, scared arrival, not understanding what is happening to her, will be thrown through it. Celeste swallows to moisten her dry throat and keeps going.

"Queen Fantasia ruled Pixie Hollow more than four thousand years ago, but the repercussions of her fatal decision are felt by us even now. At the time of her reign, more and more darkness fairies started to appear. The queen was afraid of them and fear results in hatred. Everything has its dark side, even a place as cheerful and innocent as Pixie Hollow and the whole rest of Neverland. It was a big mistake for Queen Fantasia to do her best--or what she thought was the best thing to do in such a situation--to deprive the light of its opposite. What would be bright side of Pixie Hollow be like if all the shadows disappeared from it? Queen Fantasia chose to denude her kingdom of darkness fairies only to satisfy her naive fantasy of rejoicing in the naked light, violating the delicate harmony that will one day take revenge on her kingdom." As the leader of the Nobodies finishes speaking, she appears to be looking at something only her half-blind eyes could see.

_"Maybe that day will come sooner than we think," _Celeste adds silently.

"Why are some fairies darkness fairies?" asks Rainbow. Some of the others look at Celeste in anticipation of an answer. That's a silly question and they all know it--as silly as asking why some fairies are garden, or water, or animal talent fairies--but nobody laughs or comments on it in any manner as there's nothing better to do in this small world of impenetrable, almost tangible darkness that surrounds them like a thick soup than to ask the same questions over and over and get the same answers time after time. The fairies are well used to sameness; it calms them down. Living here has taught them this.

"I don't think there is any explanation," says Celeste. "Although those of us who were here before you arrived--you know I'm the oldest in here--had a theory that darkness fairies come into existence with the first laugh of a child who is destined to achieve greatness. Darkness and light are two opposing notions. Darkness, the talent we are endowed with, symbolizes rejection of formal dogmas and ways of behavior and preserving individuality which is the only way to achieve greatness. Light is too insipid. Darkness is knowledge. Didn't you ever wonder why we know so much about the world when we only ever saw it for the short moments between when we discovered out talent and revealed it in front of the fairies and then were thrown in here? Why the innate knowledge of the world outside and its rules is etched in our minds? Why we could give name ourselves after things we have never seen? How can we know the names of the queens ruling Pixie Hollow over the centuries if no one ever told us, or the names of those imprisoned here before us? It's because darkness is enlightenment and fairies are afraid of it, preferring to renounce their individuality for the sake of following others' opinions, not content only to mock us, but sending us away so we could never be seen again. None of them ever protested that imprisoning us was wrong. Darkness is a symbol of enlightenment and it's darkness itself which grants me this innate knowledge--the gift which allows me to sense what the trend of events in Pixie Hollow is like now. Yes, I can sense the arrival of the next one of us. Ebony was right about it."

The leader of the tribe of the fairies who called themselves Nobodies stops to take a breath. If not for the darkness, her companions could see that from her half-blind eyes--the darkness made her mental eyes able to see further at the same time it made her physical eyes deteriorate--a silent double tear trickled down her cheeks, now parchment-like and yellowish when once her face had been soft and pink.

Hickory wishes he didn't have to ask the question. He doesn't want to see their leader cry--although her silent cry is something he could see only with his mind's eyes, not his physical ones. Celeste, old and wise, is right about so many things and the pearl of wisdom she shares most generously with tribe is that darkness is the source of enlightenment for the soul even if the side effect of receiving that enlightenment may be crippling to the physical body. Hickory senses her sadness, doesn't need to hear the strangled sob his leader strives to hide to feel it.

Flora, the curly haired fairy of short posture to whom the sparrow man turned for an answer stands up, wanting to finish the tale they all are familiar with.

"The next queens of Pixie Hollow who ascend the throne after Fantasia--Gardenia, Iris, Clarion and this new one, Tinkerbell, all followed the example of their first queen, darkness fairy policy-wise. Having arrived here, we stay in this chamber until the end of our lives. Over the course of time, after many centuries, we wither away and the only sign we lived is the dust that is left after us. Once in every five hundred years, fairies come here to remove the dust...and kill those who haven't turned to it yet."

"Does it mean we will never manage to liberate ourselves from here?" Rainbow asks, although he knows what the tale has to say on this for the same talent that grants them the knowledge of the tale also gives them the spiritual enlightenment to understand it.

"You know like the rest of us that this day can be sooner than we think," one of the younger Nobodies says in a silent voice, repeating what Celeste said. "Someone new is going to arrive."

"The more, the better." From Star's throat a sudden giggle is heard, one of those rare occasions when a sound of fairy laughter resounds in this sad place. "The more, the merrier," the Nobody girl adds, choking on her own laughter which comes in sudden spurts, leaving her throat as though what she said was the funniest thing ever--a rare occurrence here. The sound of half-insane laughter is barely a pale reflection of what it could be if Star was allowed to live outside the cavern in the happiness and joy of Pixie Hollow. But it's still happy enough to probably be the most beautiful sound that has reached the ears of her companions since they were incarcerated under the roots of the tree.

"Misery loves company," a Nobody having a suitable name for a darkness talent fairy--Nightfall--adds and smiles. Her white teeth glisten in the darkness.

"You know that isn't what it's about," Star replies, getting more serious now. "The more of us are sent here, the closer we get to reaching our aim."

The fairies nod, not only those taking part in the conversation but also those who after many years in this place of eternal confinement have gone half insane and can only sit on the benches in complete apathy with their heads between their knees and their eyes tracking the patterns in the wood on the floor. Some of them manage to exert themselves enough to smile. Among them there isn't one who hasn't been let in on the secret. The secret lightens up their lives like a lonely ray of sunshine that strayed into the prison and warms the fairies' souls. The secret is known to all of them; the knowledge is shared by them all. Yes, they can not only create and manipulate darkness but the other facet of their fairy gift is a mysterious awareness of what is hidden, or at least should be hidden, from them--almost esoteric by its nature.

"Tell me what it is about then," insists Nightfall, capriciously, like a spoiled child. She giggles, although the giggle is not without the subtlest note of maliciousness, and claps her small emaciated hands. The movement is more befitting a bratty human child than an imprisoned fairy. "Tell me why this newcomer is so important, quickly. Anybody tell me." The fairy looks like a mischievous kid, waiting impatiently for the next occasion to perform a new prank.

Celeste wipes the tears still glistening on her face and takes the floor one more time, finishing the tale after Flora. Her soft, hypnotizing voice telling them of things they already know takes her friends to the land of fantasy where every wish comes true--even if it's a wish impossible to do at first sight--like letting them out of the cavern.

"Well, that's the thing about which none of the non-Nobodies knows. They aren't enlightened, but that's not their fault. They renounced it by removing us from their community. When enough new arrivals come here, we'll have to lie on the floor, holding each other's hands--our greatest strength lies in our unity--and concentrate on the change our bodies must undergo. We must concentrate to transform our bodies into the silver pixie dust that is our timber. One day, we'll have to wither away and die, but the transformation I'm talking about is going to make us even closer than we could be. The pure immaterial dust we will become, this subtle matter which creates our bodies, will assume the new form of our collective consciousness. We will take a new form, remaining the same as the way we were before the change...but much closer to each other, knowing all of each other's thoughts. We will be as one." Celeste sighs. "I think Fantasia somehow knew this secret and that is the reason she sentenced the first darkness fairies and their successors to this forever exile. I don't know how she could ever find out, but objectively speaking, it was a very good solution to hide us beneath the roots of the tree while she could rule, enjoying the tears shed by those suffering in here, in this chamber beneath her throne room. Yes, it was the best solution she could come up with, considering the safety of her and the whole of Pixie Hollow...If she only knew..."

"Knew what?" banters Ebony. She knows what the answer is going to be. She has heard this millions of times, but can't help giving in to the pleasure of listening to the soft voice of their leader telling about the tempting joys awaiting them one more time.

"These are the words of wisdom revealed to me by darkness. The collective dust body which will be ours after the transformation, the darkness itself personified," replies Celeste patiently, "will possess power greater than any of the queens who ever ruled our land. We will be able to seize the power of Pixie Hollow and the whole of Neverland. No one will ever be excluded from our circle, regardless of what kind of fairy talent they possess. The reign of Queen Tinkerbell will end and there won't ever be a fairy queen other than the queen that will be the collective entity of all the darkness fairies who suffered so much here in the cavern just for being different. She will rule the land of pixies forever."

Celeste finishes the tale, which every person present in the prison knows well but still likes to listen to. She closes her eyes and smiles triumphantly. The leader of the darkness talent fairies knows that a new fairy like them is going to arrive soon. And something deep in her soul tells her that it's the last one they need to undergo the transformation. Even if she isn't the one who will complete the whole, making the number of fairies sufficient to transform into something more, her arrival still pours new hope in their hearts. There haven't been any new fairies with this rare talent for such a long time in here. The queens of Pixie Hollow were idiots to not appreciate the power of the ties of unity that developed between the imprisoned and now it seemed that a new addition to their unique community would be handed to them on a silver platter. There are no plates here in the dungeon; the fairies don't need to eat for long--very long--periods of time, although waiting too long results in starvation and they wither away and turn into dust. But Celeste knows that it's going to change soon, if the new darkness talent fairy is the one they need. When they take Pixie Hollow back, they will have the best food on silver plates and everything else a fairy queen could ever wish for.

For a moment, there's a stir in Celeste's tribe, the half-insane fairies feel a sudden rush of new vital strengths which makes them able to force out a few smiles--pale, but malicious, filled with new hope and anticipation before they curl up on their benches again, sinking back into apathy. But in their eyes is reflected impatient anticipation; one could actually see it, if not for the darkness shrouding the chamber. There's nothing more to do than wait. Wait for a new arrival, the coming of whom is certain, yes, the Nobodies can admit this to themselves now. Maybe this is the time when the aim they cherish will be achieved.

The small door opens a few hours later and a new darkness fairy is thrown through it. Scared, sobbing, unable to understand what's happening; it's always like that for the first couple of days here as the prisoners all know. The roots of the Home Tree under which the darkness talent fairies' prison is hidden are the roots of secrets nobody but for the Nobodies themselves knows about. One of them is the secret of hope the next generations of them cherish and which may or may not come true this day. May it? The Nobodies approach the new fairy who lifts her head and looks at them, smiling shyly, not knowing what she should do or say. It's time to find this out.


End file.
